Marines-Helping-Marines on MilitaryUniformExhange.com 

One afternoon (back in the day) myself and another TBS (the Basic School) Tactics Instructor (there was no Instructor Group we were broken into Tactics Group and Command and Leadership Group) were in the Tactics Office on the 2^nd Deck of Heywood Hall. Everyone was out of the office and in the field as usual.  Tactics Instructors would come back to teach classroom instruction and head right back out to the field.  Most of our time was outside with the Lieutenants and we loved it.  

The other instructor, “Carp”, was a real pro.  He was a quiet professional who made everyone around him better.  To a man, almost every TBS Tactics Instructor was like him.  My peers were the kind of Marines that always had your back, pushed you and made you a better Marine Officer.  I hope they say the same about me.

I was at my desk prepping for a period of classroom instruction that day when “Carp” yells loudly “Hey Lieutenant!  Stop Running!”   Carp wasn’t one to raise his voice.  He and I were the only instructors there, so he quickly got my attention.   I looked up to see Carp standing at the window looking out towards the gym at the LZ.   I saw a lone Marine Lieutenant standing in the middle of the LZ between Heywood Hall and the Gym.  It is obvious that he couldn't see who was yelling at him and even from 100 yards he looked very nervous.   

Carp yells again, “Yeah – You, Lieutenant – Come Here!”  The Lieutenant spots Carp in the Window and starts running in our direction (he was headed to the gym).  At this point I still haven’t figured out what Carp is doing, but was interested enough to put my work down.  Carp yells “Stop!! Start Walking!!”  The Lieutenant starts walking at a brisk pace to our office. 

The Lieutenant arrived about a minute later, and reported to Carp.   I was about to find out what the young Officer did and learn something from one of my peers at the same time.  

Carp said, “Lt, you were late for Class, weren’t you?”   “Yes Sir” said the Lieutenant.”  “You just told all of TBS and the whole world that you were screwed up, do you know that?  Marine Officers Don’t Run!  You could have walked right across the LZ, slipped into your class and nobody would have thought anything else about it.”

Carp went on to quietly lecture the young Officer.   “Officers never run except during PT or in Combat when a Marine’s life is at stake and it is absolutely necessary.  Running is only going to tell your Marines that you have a problem and that you don’t have a solution.  Your job as an Officer is to instill confidence in your Marines. You can’t do that if they see you panic.” 

I intuitively knew what Carp was teaching the young Officer, but to this day have never seen it taught better.  Marines Officers and Marine Leaders should think twice about the visual signals they send to their Marines.  Are you creating a problem that doesn’t exist by your actions?  Have you made a problem worse?  Are you instilling confidence in your Marines, or are you causing them to doubt?     Stop running!  You can give yourself a great advantage, or at least keep a bad situation from getting worse.